November 06, 2006

I apologize to all of my friends for not answering my phone. It's turned off. It's been turned off for the past week.

Why?

Because 90% of the phone calls I've been receiving have been recorded messages for political candidates. It seems they're now abusing their exception to Do-Not-Call by punishing all of us with endless recordings. Enough is enough already. I almost want to vote against every candidate who rings my phone with one of those messages!!

I just got another one of those emails saying, "You are a stupidhead, Frank! Cold calling works!"

Ok, cold calling works. Fine. Let me put it this way - I'm a car detail nut. I like my car to be perfect, flawless, with a "miles-deep, wet look" finish.

There are two ways I can achieve this: By the old, "wax on, wax off" method. I can do it by hand. The job will get done - in other words, it "works" - but it will take a tremendous amount of physical effort and leave me with burning arms and shoulders, and severe soreness the next day. This is the equivalent of cold calling.

Or, I can simply grab my machine tools - my rotary buffer to remove defects, and my orbital polisher to finish to a mirror-like shine. They take little effort, and even though less work is required on my part, they do much more than I ever could by hand. And on top of all that, it takes about one-fourth the time that doing it by hand would! What a great deal! This is the equivalent of self-marketing.

Take your own choice ... do it the hard way only to suffer and get less results, or do it the efficient way, enjoy yourself, have a good time, and wind up with 4x the production. They both "work." They just work in different ways.

November 05, 2006

I just read some interesting articles about the practice of tipping. The theory behind them is that the overall decline in service in the U.S. can be partially blamed on the fact that tips used to be given to reward good service and withheld to punish poor service. Nowadays, tips are considered mandatory, and servers get them regardless of whether they do a good job or not.

As for me, I consider tips to be a way of rewarding good service. Call me old-fashioned, but I am strongly opposed to the entitlement mentality and will not leave a generous tip after receiving poor service. On the other hand, great service causes me to leave huge tips, well in excess of the norm.

This entitlement mentality got me thinking about what I've heard from salespeople. There is definitely a lot more of "They won't give me leads," versus "What can I do to achieve more?" (or, "get" versus "earn.") You see, expecting someone to give you something for free won't get you anywhere. By contrast, being willing to learn how to get leads, then following through with action, will make you a top producer. I also see this from the unfortunate people who return my products for a refund. While my refund rate is well under 1%, it's obvious that those 1% had the bizarre idea that simply buying the book would somehow cause leads to appear on their desks the next morning. Not so. You must follow through with action. If you're old-fashioned, you simply call it work.

November 03, 2006

My assistant Ashley is, right now, making welcome calls to the members of my new Top Sales Pros monthly learning program. What she's noticing is that every time she calls someone and says "Is this Mr. So-and-so?" she hears instant sales resistance in their voice. They begrudgingly say "Yesssss...." in a negative tone. The moment she says, "This is Ashley with NeverColdCall.com," their attitude and voice change to convey excitement and happiness.

Funny how just the mere suspicion that someone may be getting a cold call is enough to put them in a bad mood.

November 02, 2006

As I work on my next book I'm thinking of the #1 secret of a top sales pro. It isn't selling techniques, or even the lead-generation systems that I teach ... it's being accountable to yourself and not wasting time. It's about spending your productive hours on things that matter, things that get results.

When I started out, I was too concerned about having a nice office and high-end accessories on my desk, feeling like a big shot, etc. What I failed to realize back then was that having a nice banker's lamp on my desk wasn't going to help me sell. In fact, focusing on those things was a waste of time. Now I'm not advising you to work in a dump; however you need to focus your time on activities that get results, and nothing else.

Top sales pros keep to themselves and don't mingle with the amateurs in the office because they are so focused. They come in to do a job, and they do it - well - and don't waste time on anything else. That's the #1 reason they're on top. They stay focused on selling and don't waste time on anything else.

We all know that cold calling is a waste of time, but as you go through your day, analyze everything you're doing and decide if it's a waste of time or not. If it is, drop it, and do something that will get results.

Frank Rumbauskas is a New York Times Best-Selling Author, one of Fast Company's Most Influential People Online, Winner of Business Book of the Year from 800-CEO-READ, The World's Best Sales Trainer, The #1 Sales and Marketing Strategist on the Planet, and a very humble and loving husband, dad to two beautiful daughters, and all around great guy!
To get Frank to explode your organization's sales numbers until your head is spinning, your wallet is bursting at the seams, and everyone thinks you're a genius, contact him at frank@frankr.me